Roses of Death
by Netsunii
Summary: Mary didn't know what to expect when she was immediately turned to ashes by her ex-best friends. Well, that was a lie. She expected death. So could someone explain why she found herself in an indoor graveyard, developing feelings for a scarlet-haired boy whose profession was all about graves? (Mary x Eddie) DISCONTINUED, LACK OF INSPIRATION, UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello, hello! This is Netsunii. Now I know you guys must be thinking, "Hey Netsunii, what the hell is this shit? What about Uncomprehendable, huh? Why would you ship Mary with Eddie?"**_

 ** _I think I really should explain lol._**

 _ **Well, to be honest, I came up with this pairing while I was trying to sleep. It seemed a bit stupid to me at first, but I added a bit more flesh and bones to my idea, and soon I found myself creating a story to slot this ship into. Plus it really seemed a bit interesting to me at the time, I don't really know.**_

 _ **As for Uncomprehendable, don't worry, i'll be prioritizing it over Roses of Death. I actually don't know if you guys will be interested in this story lol. Although i'm very excited to launch this story, I promise I will try and create content for Uncomprehendable first.**_

 _ **This first chapter is an experiment, to see if you guys are fond of the idea or not. Like I said, I don't know if you guys will be interested in this story.**_

 _ **For now, i'll leave this chapter up by itself for a while and focus on Uncomprehendable first. Depending on your guys' reviews, I will either delete this story or continue it.**_

 _ **Welp, here goes nothing...**_

 _ **Chapter 1**_

It was a quiet day at the building. Abraham Gray was currently holding a tray with great care, navigating to a certain door. On top of the tray was a plate with a simple cheese sandwich and a glass of water. Once he had arrived at the destination intended, he carefully held the tray with his left hand and knocked onto the door with the right. "Come in~!" A cheerful voice echoed from the other side of the door. Complying, Gray grasped his hand around the cold, metallic doorknob before turning it.

Gray opened the door and went inside the room, before closing the door behind him. He returned his hand underneath the tray and looked up, his eyes immediately landing onto a certain girl onto a bed. She looked up from the book she was holding and smiled. "Hi, mister!"

The girl had messy, blonde hair that reached her waist. She had sky blue eyes that sparkled upon seeing Gray. The girl wore a long, white hospital gown that, unlike many, did not have an opening at the back. She had white socks. The girl also had several bandages wrapped across specific body parts, such as the top of her forehead, the majority of her left arm, her right ankle, and many other places. Any other area that wasn't covered had a very faint red, indicating burns.

Her strangely unaffected original clothes consisting of a long-sleeved green dress with a white collar and white cuffs at the end of her sleeves, a blue neckerchief and black stockings sat, folded, onto a nearby chair. As for her brown school loafers, they were directly underneath the chair.

"Hello, Mary." Gray greeted the blonde, setting the tray down onto an empty cart table, before wheeling it next to the bed. Mary immediately took the sandwich and began eating. "How art thou?"

Mary paused to swallow the bite she took, before answering cheerfully. "I'm quite alright, actually!" She patted her left arm. "The areas with bandages still hurt a bit, but I can do most things without too much pain!" She finished her bubbly status report, before immediately going back to munching on her sandwich. Gray smiled at the enthusiastic reply. Despite everything, she still kept a smile on her face.

"That's good to hear. What wouldst thou like to do today? Wouldst thou perhaps like to color?" He asked, reaching for a box of crayons and a coloring book, which was next to Mary's satchel. It contained a palette knife and a pretty, yellow rose.

"Actually," Mary started, causing Gray to stop and look towards her in interest.

"Could I explore the building?"

Gray immediately choked on the air in shock. Mary, having being caught in a sudden state of shock from his reaction, snapped out of it and immediately turned to panic. She frantically made panicked gestures, saying, "I'm sorry! You don't have to let me! It's okay I don't need to go anymore it's okay please don't die please don't die PLEASE-"

Gray coughed several times, hitting his hand against his chest while slumping forward in a quite undignified pose. Once he had calmed down, he sat up straight and coughed a few more times for good measure. He cleared his throat, attempting to ignore what had occurred a few seconds ago. He looked at Mary seriously.

"Child, art thee sure?" He asked.

Mary bit her lip before nodding.

"Yes, i'm sure."

* * *

Mary sighed as Gray left the room. She pushed herself off of her bed and began undoing her bandages, wincing as she did so. When she finished, she walked over to the dusty, white vanity, which was next to a window. She sat down in the stool in front of the vanity, and looked around at the desk for a certain item. She spotted a brush amongst multiple papers, pens and other items that she had no idea of. It wasn't in great condition, but it was certainly usable. She picked up the brush and began trying to tame her messy blonde locks. After a while, she managed to turn her blonde hair into something decent.

Not presentable, but decent.

After that, Mary set the brush down onto the desk and stood up from the seat. She moved out of the chair's way and pushed it back into the small opening underneath the desk. Mary then walked back to the chair which had her clothes and shoes, before picking up the clothing items and placing them on top of the bed. The shoes were placed next to the bottom of the bed. She began to undress, slipping off her hospital gown (with some difficulty - it was a bit too small) and her socks.

She picked up her stockings and wiggled into them, jumping quite a bit to slide them up even further. _'There must be a better way of doing this. If there was,'_ She thought, finishing the process of putting on her stockings. _'I don't know it.'_ Mary picked up her dress and slid it onto the top of her head, tugging it downwards so the collar met her neck. She released her hair from the inner back of the dress and slid her arms into the sleeves. Mary twirled around and smiled as she examined her familiar dress. She picked up her neckerchief and tied it around her neck, fitting it underneath the collar. The decorative part stuck out in front of her dress, which really looked quite pretty to her.

Mary then completed the look by slipping her feet into her loafers. She smiled and jumped around in her outfit, feeling comfortable. She walked over to the stool with her satchel and picked it up, before slipping it on. After checking that her rose had six petals and her palette knife was inside the satchel, she turned the flap over, closing the bag.

Mary was ready. She headed out into the hallway, skipping over to Gray. He looked up from the book he was reading. "Ah, finally done, I seeth. Shalt we depart?" Mary excitedly nodded. The reverend chuckled as he shut his book closed. "Then let us go."

* * *

Mary bounced excitedly in the elevator as she waited impatiently to start exploring her first floor. Gray smiled as he watched the small, 13 year old silently express her excitement for the occasion. His smile shrunk a bit. He knew that Mary was not prepared to be exposed to the others. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't deny it. He took a liking to Mary, as he did with Isaac, adopting her and becoming a sort of, well, father figure, if you may.

Isaac would be a bad influence and tear her apart immediately, if his urge for killing overpowered him. Daniel might take her eyes with no hesitation. Catherine would be a bad influence. Rachel would most likely be a good candidate, but her "profession" would definitely scar Mary, especially if she found the 17 year-old's stitched-up parents.

The only way he could think of to keep Mary safe yet allow her to explore was by leaving her exploration in the care of Edward. The scarlet-haired boy would surely take a liking to someone his age, providing Mary to do the same. As for Gray himself, he would most definitely keep an eye on the girl in case the redhead wouldn't take a liking to her and try to create her grave.

Alright, it was decided.

"Mary," he began. At the mention of her own name, the petite blonde stopped bouncing and turned her head to him. "Yes…?" She asked. Gray sighed, and then dropped the bomb, piece by piece. "I am afraid that you aren't quite... _prepared_ to explore this whole area. I do wish for your safety."

Mary gasped. "What? Of course I can handle it!" Gray sighed again. "Mary, a child like you is easy prey. I cannot allow you to explore the whole building. There are..." _'How do I say this...'_ He thought. "...a few bad people here. They will make you feel unsafe and harm you. You will have to explore only one floor."

Mary huffed. "Why do you have bad people in this building? Anyways, I have a palette knife, so it should be fine! I can always talk them out of it, and if they don't agree, I can always leave or fight back, see? I'll be fine, let me explore!" Gray felt distressed. Convincing her would be quite hard.

The argument went back and forth. Mary kept on complaining that she wasn't being treated fairly. Gray kept on telling her it was for her absolute safety. Different points were brought up. Different arguments were thrown about. Mary kept giving reasons, while Gray kept on debunking her reasons with the same argument: he wanted her to be safe. Eventually, Mary gave up.

"Fine! I'll explore _one_ floor. _One._ " She admitted defeat, pouting as she crossed her arms. Gray was relieved and tired out. Finally, she agreed to the very responsible adult. Finally, she saw that he was only trying to keep her safe.

Finally, she-

"But on _one_ condition!" She declared, making Gray immediately deflate from his relief. Oh dear god, what now? He prepared himself for the inevitable. _'Maybe she's just asking a small favor,'_ He thought. _'Maybe she just wants to do something small on the floor i've assigned her to. Yes, that must be i-'_

"Could I explore the floor by _myself?_ "

Gray practically fainted.

* * *

It took a great deal of pouting, whining and different arguments of shapes and sizes, but _finally_ Mary was able to convince Gray to let her explore. She stepped out of the elevator feeling triumphant, and turned around to wave goodbye to her guardian. "Stay safe, alright? If I hear anything about danger, i'll be taking you away immediately." He sternly said, but his smile was soft. Mary waved her hand dismissively at him. "I'll be fine! Don't you worry, mister!"

Gray sighed. "Very well, Mary. Please, do not hesitate to leaveth if thee feel uncomfortable." Mary nodded, mentally taking his advice. "Of course!" She replied, impatient to go explore already.

The reverend must have already sensed this, as he let out a light chuckle. "Thou art quite the impatient one. Very well, I shall depart now. Seeth thee soon, Mary." He waved goodbye, and the elevator doors closed. Mary turned around, hardly able to contain her excitement. She looked to her right, noticing some red paint on the wall. The blonde strolled closer to the painted wall and read the letter and number out loud. "B...B4. I-Is that supposed to say before?...No, no, it say bee–four. So B4. Wait, what was I talking about again?"

Finishing her very-confusing self talk, Mary turned around and began walking forward. Something in the water from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she soon found herself examining the strange thing from afar, crouching down. After a while of trying to figure out what it was, she gave up. "I might have to get into the water to see what it is." She concluded, having come up with nothing else. "Oh well. I'll do it later." Mary shrugged, standing back up and turning back to the south. She walked forward, excited to explore the area.

Mary found herself at the front of a small cluster of graves. The first one she saw was open. A mound of dirt was next to the hole, and a pickaxe was on the other side of the hole. As for the surrounding area, it was quite a standard size. She could tell that the walls expanded from the small opening she arrived through, with two hallways appearing in the middle of both sides, as well as a narrow hallway stretching a few steps from the front of the cluster of graves.

Mary walked forward, feeling cautious. She looked down into the hole of the grave and blinked. She could make out a silhouette of a dead person, with a missing arm. On top of the person's chest, she could make out a shiny item. Mary was, of course, curious, and so she began stretching her arm towards the item to grab it.

Unfortunately, it was too far down.

She tried lying down onto the dirt to reach it, but no such luck. Mary withdrew her arm and stood up, brushing the dirt off with a disappointed expression. "There's got to be a way to grab it..." She trailed off as her eyes landed on the pickaxe. An idea popped into her head, and she reached for the pickaxe.

* * *

After what seemed like an absolute, super, duper, _long_ lifetime...Mary was finally able to obtain the shiny thing.

It was extremely difficult, considering that, yes, she does admit that strength isn't the best quality she has, the pickaxe was heavy and it _was_ dark in the hole, after all. But she got the key with _Morgue_ engraved on the side of it, and that was all that mattered. Mary placed the key inside of her bag and turned the flap over. She looked around and noticed a carved stone, much lighter and neater than the others. She walked around the graves, not wanting to disturb the dead, and stopped in front of the stone. It was about as tall as her, and it had engraved writing. Mary read the writing in her head, instead of out loud, as the area slightly scared her. Every noise made her jump, be it from her own or the environment...

Or...something else.

" _Graves of the impure,"_ It read. _"The ?, unwanted by his master and angels. Await to be purified –– ? to the depths and be buried in the ground."_ Mary didn't understand some words, but figured that the writing wasn't that important anyway. She turned to the right and walked to one of the doors, before stopping in front of the sign next to it. Mary read the sign. _Morgue._

"Didn't I have a key with the same word on it?" She questioned, opening her bag and sticking her hand inside for item. Sure enough, she felt a cold, metallic feeling from her palm and curled her fingers around the thing before pulling it out. It was the key.

Mary looked at the door in search of something to put the key in. She saw a funny shape: a circle with a rectangle connected to it's bottom. Nevertheless, she stuck the rusty key in, hoping that it would work. Mary turned the key with both hands, her breath hitching. She turned it more, and more, and more, until...

 _Click!_

The door opened. Mary smiled and tried pulling the key out. It wouldn't budge. Her smile dropped. Was it stuck? She sighed and let herself inside the room, praying that no one would lock her in.

The first thing she felt was cold.

"Ch-chilly..." She muttered, wrapping her arms around herself. Mary looked around and found lots of large cabinets, one of them open, two open, empty coffins and another one of those stones with words engraved on them. Further ahead, she saw a bridge with pools of water at the side. A large crack was in the wall, and at the left side of the water was a stream of water, spilling from the wall. Mary walked over to the engraved stone and read the words.

" _Cleanse thyself. The master expects a pure soul and body."_

Mary, once again, didn't understand. She decided to look at the open cabinet first. Walking over to it, Mary noticed something white inside. Immediately after that, she noticed that the air inside of the top cabinet was _colder._ "Like a freezer. A big, big freezer." She mumbled to herself. With a sigh, Mary shut her eyes and reached inside of the freezer cabinet, shivering even more as she felt the freezing cold hit her hand. She felt around for something, and her fingers brushed over a papery texture. She snatched it up and withdrew her hand from the inside, not wanting to be even colder.

Mary opened her eyes and saw that what she took was a small piece of scrap paper. She noticed words and read them. _"Watkin Beckett (36) — POD: B3; COD: Blood loss from bullet wound."_ "Poor guy." Mary mumbled. _"Mr. Beckett had the B4 key on his person, but it has yet to be find. It appears he lost it. *Due to severe injuries, use caution when ? *An arm was lost while being cleaned in a tank."_ Oh! Mary took the key from Mr Beckett. "Sorry, sir." She mumbled, placing the paper back and turning around.

Mary decided to inspect the crack in the wall and walked past the big cabinets, before balancing herself on the bridge. It seemed that it could break at any moment. She turned to the flowing stream that came from the wall and touched it. Mary blinked as she realized that her hands were covered in dirt from the pickaxe. "Well, I should watch my hands off here." She said to herself, reaching out to the water and rinsing the dirt off.

Rinsing the dirt off made her hands clean again, and Mary smiled. "That's better~!" She then noticed something in the water. "Huh?" She reached for the item.

It was a key, similar to the last one. It read, _Graveyard._ Mary placed the key inside her bag and looked around one last time. "There isn't anything else that I need, so I guess i'll leave now." Wordlessly, she walked over to the door and opened it, before shutting it behind her. Mary sighed in relief as she felt the cold leave her. She wiggled her fingers and toes before jumping. "Much better!" She exclaimed again, before noticing the other door to her right.

She rushed over to it and read the sign. _Graveyard,_ it said. With a grin on her face, Mary grabbed the key from her bag and stuck it inside the keyhole. She turned it sideways, and soon a _click!_ came from the door. She pushed the door open and felt her breath hitch at the sight.

More graves.


	2. Chapter 2

_**NOTE:**_

"Hello." = Normal dialogue

" _Hello."_ = Flashback, words from reading

' _Hello.'_ = Thoughts

Hello = Narration

 _Hello/_ **Hello/** _ **Hello**_ = Emphasis, flashback (Italics)

? = Words that Mary doesn't know

 _ **Chapter 2**_

Mary looked at the scene before her. This area was obviously a graveyard, as it had graves in it. She noticed that the graves looked much better than the graves she saw before. There was, unsurprisingly, another one of those tall stones with words carved into them. The graveyard was behind two big, black metallic fences. Orange lights were scattered everywhere on the very top of the walls, some bulbs looking to be cracked. There was a big crack in the wall at the end of the room.

In front of the crack were two piles of debris, the pile closest to the crack larger than the other. The bigger pile had two nice flower pots next to it's sides and a nice stone floor at the bottom of it, while the smaller pile had soil for it's floor, weeds at the side of it and a hole in front of the pile. Mary suspected that most of the rubble fell into the hole. Four large and short pipes connected to the floor were at the very sides of the room, and Mary noticed that at the end of each row of graves, was a pot of flowers.

"Ooh, spooky." Mary murmured, before stepping forward. She walked over to the tombstone with engraved writing on it and read the words. " _The holy land of the ?! Those the master ?, those pure, angelic adorers, and those exceptional..."_ Her eyes moved to the next words. "... _Shall lay thyself to rest for this ? privilege."_ Mary huffed. Why did these things have so many words she didn't know? It wasn't fair! _"But heed my words...Wicked souls that betray the master shall be damned here in eternal hell."_

The words ended there. Mary stood up straight again, suddenly feeling a bit...scared? She didn't know decided to just leave the stone be and walked forward, glancing around at the different tombstones. She stopped in front of the two piles of rubble, before crouching down and running her fingers carefully over a few rocks from the mess. "I wonder why someone would do such a thing..." She mumbled, before standing back up after taking a fair-sized rock from the larger pile. "I have a feeling that this'll be useful." Mary said to herself, putting the rock into her bag after dusting the dirt off of it.

She walked over to the large crack in the wall and peered in. There were very dim lights in the crack...Possibly signalling a room?

Only one way to find out.

Mary sighed and took out her palette knife, before squeezing inside the hole. She found herself in a short hallway, and held out her knife in front of her. Mary slowly inched forward, before jumping to the opening on the right.

Nothing. No one was there.

She sighed in relief, but pocketed her palette knife instead of putting it inside of her satchel. One could never be sure, after all. Mary immediately noticed the box, two large rocks, closets, crate and two pre-made gravestones on her left, and then noticed the scattered papers across the entire room. Her eyes landed onto the table in the middle of the room with papers and some measurement items on it. Mary then noticed the door beyond the table and the stone...stools? at the right side of the room.

Mary walked over to the box, as it was the first thing that caught her interest. She opened up the flaps and blinked. Inside was a flashlight. She took it out and, to her luck, the flashlight seemed to be full, because of the large green rectangle at the sid of it. The rectangle was divided into three segments. Mary placed the flashlight inside her bag and continued to look at things. She looked at the papers scattered across the room. They all seemed to have information about graves at first glance, but one looked to be an order form for shovels, hammers and pickaxes.

Mary walked over to the table and looked at it's contents, before she picked up the three papers closest to her. They seemed to be written in a child's handwriting, or at least, handwriting similar to hers. (Gray taught her how to write better.) She read them, one by one. The first one was pretty straightforward.

" _I first learned of that kid. I've always been curious. But I didn't know her for the longest time! I long to see her, but that ?'s always in the way. She has such a beautiful voice. She must be so, so lovely. She MUST BE! I mean, that's why I fell for her overnight!"_

Mary felt her lips curl into a smile. How cute! Looks like the person writing this had a crush. What else did they write?

" _Oh dear. I gotta make something special for her! Gotta think of something special, only for her ––"_

Mary flipped the paper over.

" _A place of eternal rest."_

Her blood ran cold. Mary shivered, feeling a bit scared. However, she pressed on, putting down the paper she just read and began to read the second one.

" _I found out that her name was Rachel. Rachel, such a pretty name. But I also found out that she's 18! It's not fair, she's older than me! Rachel also chose that ?, Zack, over me! I got so mad, that I ended up destroying the graves I made for them. All of that hard work put into Rachel's grave...gone._

 _Oh, if only I was older..."_

Mary felt her mood diminish into sympathy. Oh, how sad rejection is! She should know, because she _was_ rejected by...two certain people. She shook her head and sighed. It wouldn't benefit her to think about them right now, especially after what _they_ did. Mary sighed and put down the second paper she read and focused her eyes on the words of the third and final paper.

" _I've found someone new._

 _She reminds me of Rachel, but she looks to actually be around my age. Her height is around mine, too, and best of all, she went into this floor by herself! This could be my second chance to have a shot at love._

 _But, I still need to be careful. After all, I don't know if she_ _ **is**_ _actually my age, or just really short._

 _...Should I make her a place of eternal rest, too?_

 _No, I should ask her first."_

Mary dropped the paper, feeling conflicted. She slowly tried to make sense of the words, not noticing the red that started slowly creeping across her entire face. The person that wrote this...

...They weren't talking about _her,_ right? They couldn't possibly be talking about _Mary,_ right? She was just an ordinary, plain...living painting.

Okay, maybe she wasn't so normal after all, but still! They _must_ be talking about someone else. After all, those gravestones clearly meant that people were able to get to this floor.

Mary sighed and shook her head from side to side. This wasn't a time to worry if someone had a crush on her or not. Her first priority was to solve the puzzles that were here. They gave her something else to do other than exploring, after all! She looked around one last time before deciding that she didn't need anything else, and walked back to the crack in the wall, before carefully squeezing through it.

Mary's eyes hurt a bit as the orange lights hit them. She had to adjust her eyes from the dim light to the bright lights, rubbing her eyes to speed up the process. It took a few minutes, but finally she was able to see properly. Mary sighed and yawned, tired from searching for a long time. "Maybe i'll sleep just for a bit..." She limped over to the closest grave and sat down, leaning against it. She felt her eyes slowly close, losing consciousness as she thought, _'Just for a bit...'_

She fell asleep soon after.

* * *

Mary yawned, rubbing her eyes as she woke up from a well-deserved rest. She blinked her eyes a couple of times to let them adjust to her surroundings again. She looked at her familiar light peach-colored hands, the forest green and...white and yellow of her dress?

Her head shot up in surprise. Her vision finally went to focus, and she noticed a piece of folded paper on her lap, with a yellow rose petal on it. Mary, confused, picked up the petal and examined it. It had to be a much lighter color than her rose, and it looked to be in much healthier condition than her rose, which was quite surprising since her rose never wilted and stayed fresh, after all. She traded the petal with the paper, placing the petal down onto her lap before picking up the white item. Mary rested her curious orbs onto the paper, reading it as silently as she could.

" _Dear Mary,"_ Her eyes widened in shock and a bit of fear. This person...They knew her name? Wanting to know why, she carried on reading.

" _I've been watching you ever since you came to this floor. I'm really interested in you! I only know your name and the fact that Gray brought you here. I also know that you're thirteen, which I am, too!_

 _But...I want to know more._

 _Please let me know more, Mary."_

 _Green eyes scanned the paper. With a satisfied smile hidden by a round, burlap mask, the writer took a yellow rose from a nearby vase and plucked one of it's petals. He paired the petal with the paper, by folding the paper and placing the petal on top of it. He held the petal down with his gloved thumb and used the rest of his gloved fingers to hold the paper. Wordlessly, he left his comfortable, hidden living area and started walking to the east, having a certain destination in mind. A few minutes later, he stopped in front of a blonde girl, fast asleep against a gravestone. He crouched down and placed the paper and petal delicately onto her lap, so as to not accidentally awaken her and give himself away._

 _She did nothing but continue sleeping. Success._

 _Smiling, he admired her pretty face for a few seconds before standing up. He revealed the remote control hidden in his overalls' front pocket before pressing a specific button on it. The orange lights which lit up the room before, started flickering between on and off. The boy smiled one last time before the room was completely engulfed in darkness for a good few seconds._

 _When the lights came back on, the boy was nowhere to be found. At the same time, the blonde girl began to stir._

* * *

Mary stared blankly at the paper, unsure of what to make of it. She felt fear, paranoia and...something else that was unknown. She shook her head from side to side and sighed. Now wasn't the time to ponder a mysterious note that just popped out of nowhere (maybe?) onto her lap. Mary picked up both the paper and the petal, standing up after she did so. She looked at the paper in her hand. "...I don't think i'll have a use for you, Mr Paper, so..." She folded the paper up and left it on top of the ground in front of the gravestone, before stuffing the petal into her satchel, quickly lifting the flap and dropping the item inside.

After a bit of consideration, she took out her palette knife from her pocket and placed it inside of her bag too, so the satchel wouldn't be filled with weightless items. She turned the flap back to close the bag, and sighed in relief as she felt the difference returning the palette knife into the satchel made. Her dress felt lighter, which meant that she could run now without worrying if her knife would cut into her dress or not.

Wordlessly, she looked around the room for a clue. The previous one she went in didn't really have one, so this was her next best thing, right?

She hoped so.

Mary looked around, checking for crevices and cracks in the walls. All she found were just crevices and cracks, and by that she meant nothing. She huffed before stomping around, annoyed. Mary sighed and leaned against a random gravestone. Suddenly, she felt herself falling backwards. Her eyes widened as her arms began flailing, her automatic reaction causing her to panic more. Mary stumbled and tripped over her own feet in an attempt to keep her balance. She landed forward onto her stomach, hitting the floor quite hard. _"Ow!"_ Mary stayed in place for a bit, catching her breath from the dangerous incident that had just occurred.

After calming down, she turned around and looked at the gravestone. To her utter surprise, it wasn't shattered and managed to stay in one piece, lying on the floor behind the area it used to be. What was even more surprising was the switch, which was hidden by the gravestone, became exposed as Mary's eyes fell onto it. She breathed a sigh of relief, before standing up and dusting herself off. She winced as the areas she just fell onto ached a tiny bit. It hurt, but she could manage.

Mary turned to the switch and crouched down, before flipping it. It didn't seem to do anything just yet, but Mary decided it was important to keep it flipped. She stood back up and dusted herself off one last time before feeling a strange urge to check the locked door from before. Mary walked hesitantly to the crack in the wall, before inhaling and exhaling. With one last glance at the room of graves, she ducked and slipped inside of the wall's opening.


	3. Chapter 3

_**HOLY**_ **MOTHER** _ **OF MACARONI I'M SO SORRY FOR GOING ON HIATUS. AAAAAA.**_

 _ **But in all seriousness, the reason for this is because our wifi suddenly got cut off last last week Sunday (I think.) I'm at someplace hogging the free wifi, typing up a storm lmao. I apologize for this sudden hiatus, but until the wifi is fixed I'm doomed.**_

 _ **Enjoy...**_

 _ **Oh btw, I didn't explain the AU for this story. Rachel stayed in the building and no harm was done to it. She's 18, and dating Zack. (because i loooove me my ships.) Mary is also 13, same as Eddie. This story takes place a couple of months from the original. Everyone is alive. Gray found Mary in the woods after hosting mass in church one Sunday.**_

 _ **EDIT: Apologies for the short chapter. I was in a rush to type and publish this chapter. Hopefully this is enough for now. Again, terribly sorry...**_

 _ **Chapter 3**_

Mary looked around at her surroundings. She tried to note something of difference, but couldn't find anything. With a huff, she merely walked forward. The feeling that something changed was still there, but _what_ was it that had changed?

Mary pressed her hand against the cold, iron door. To her surprise, it began to slowly push forward. She pressed her other hand to the door and pushed as hard as she could. The door slowly swung open, scraping against the floor. With a smile, Mary walked into the doorway.

She immediately stopped, stock-still as she looked around in slight fear. "I-It's way too dark...I need to turn on a light or something..." Mary's eyes snapped open in realization. She quickly dug into her satchel and grabbed her hand around something, pulling out a flashlight. She turned it on and shone it around the room. To her dismay, it seemed to have a very dim light, which meant she had to be careful of her surroundings.

Still, it was better than no light at all.

Mary looked at her surroundings. The only things around her were brick walls. She reached out a finger to a brick and touched it. A part of the brick turned to dust. Mary quickly withdrew her finger, deciding to just leave the bricks alone in fear of them crumbling into pieces and sending the ceiling crashing down on her.

She began walked forward, taking great care to watch her step. She froze as she heard someone giggling. Mary whipped her head behind her in fear and shone the flashlight over the area she faced.

There was nothing there.

Mary slowly turned back around, stepping forward as she trembled. Her left hand dug into her bag, before producing her palette knife with a shaking hand. She hesitantly ventured forward, gripping both the flashlight and her knife tightly.

Mary stepped into a bigger area. Upon shining her flashlight across the whole room, she found bookshelves lined across one wall and a table on the other side of the room, with papers scattered about. Finally deciding that there were no serial killers to pop up and chop her head off before bathing in her blood, she shoved her palette knife into her bag and inched forward.

Mary examined the table first. There was a felt-tip pen and a stack of papers. Upon a closer look, she found that the stack of papers contained information about random people she didn't know about. There was one about Watkin Beckett, the person who was buried.

Mary decided that this information was useless and walked away from the table. She looked in the back of the room and blinked. There was a long, narrow hallway. Her hand travelled to her bag, where in a few seconds, she was back to holding her palette knife. Mary cautiously trudged forward.

Upon one turn to the right of the hallway, she faced the end of the twist and squinted. "Something's there...Is it a door?" Because of the poor lighting from the flashlight, she was unable to see what was there. Mary walked forward with caution and raised her shaking hand slowly. In it was the palette knife. She held her breath and slowly stepped forward.

In front of her was a horrifying...door.

Mary released the breath she was holding and lowered her palette knife in immense relief. She walked forward to it, but stumbled as she felt her feet suddenly lower. Mary caught herself, slamming into the door as she shook.

She took deep breaths, trying to calm her fast beating heart. Once it was back to a normal pace of beats, she stood up straight and looked down at her feet. "A hollow spot in the floor?" She got back onto the slightly raised floor and stared down at the spot, before lowering a foot towards the hollow spot.

A _click!_ seemed to come from the door, but when Mary pushed at it, it wouldn't budge. "Do I need to activate another switch to make it open...?" She said to herself, before shrugging as she raised her foot and placed it back onto the raised floor before turning around. She decided to walk back to the indoor graveyard, but as she reached the area that stretched into the room with bookshelves, she heard a giggle.

It was the same giggle as before.

Immediately, Mary whipped out her pocket knife and trembled as she looked around, pointing the flashlight in all directions to ensure that there was nothing there. "I-Is someone there?!" She said, her voice shaking with fear.

There was no response.

"Hello?" Mary called out, still shaking. She froze to the spot as she heard a voice rise to life.

"Umm..."

Mary yelped as she stumbled backwards, her back hitting the wall harshly. She waved the flashlight around, desperate to find the source of the voice. It echoed around the area, causing her to press her back further into the wall.

"I don't know who you really are."

"But I like you, so I won't kill you."

"After all," the voice continued. "this is my domain."

The voice then ceased, causing Mary to try and comprehend what had happened. She shakily stood up straight, and put away her palette knife. Not wasting a second, she turned and fled from the area in fear.

* * *

Mary looked around the indoor graveyard, before walking to the door. As she was walking, she began to realize what sort of situation she was really in. All she wanted was to explore, but here she was, solving puzzles and almost dying of fear.

Wow.

She snapped back to reality as she heard her shoe scrape against something. Mary looked down to find a piece of paper. She stepped backwards and bent over, before picking it up. Her eyes trailed across the only line of words.

 _Let me help you,_ it said. She let the paper flutter down onto the floor, before exiting the room.

Mary was back in the room with the slightly-low quality graves. She spotted another paper in the way she first arrived from and walked over to it, picking it up and reading it.

 _I can help you solve the puzzles here._

Mary dropped it and wordlessly continued forward. Her subconscious was screaming at her to go back, and take up the offer, but she simply walked back to the elevator.

Mary looked at the water at her right side. She eyed the strange thing in the water and, with a tinge of hesitation, she jumped in.

She gasped as the ice cold water seeped underneath her clothes, biting into her skin. Mary gritted her teeth as she swam forward to the strange spot.

It turned out to be a hollow spot, similar to the one she found before. As expected, when she stepped on it, a click soon emerged.

Mary wracked her brain for ways on how to keep the switch pressed without her being there. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she came to a realization. Of course!

She dug into her bag and took out the large rock she grabbed earlier. Mary dropped it onto the switch, and heard a click. With glee, she swam back to shore and climbed onto the floor, before running towards the direction of the locked door.

A few minutes later, Mary was in the long hallway again, holding the flashlight. She found a paper and picked it up, reading it.

 _If you want my help, though, I need you to do something. Like you, I also have my own desires._

She dropped it and hurried towards the doorway. Mary found another paper in front of the switch. Already getting slightly annoyed by the notes, she snatched it up and read it impatiently.

 _If possible, I want you to devote yourself to me. I mean — isn't it great, being in love?_

Mary gasped as she dropped the paper. She stepped back as she felt her face heat up.

Someone had a _crush_ on her?

And it wasn't just anyone, but it was the _owner_ of this floor!

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear.

This...this really felt... _oh dear._

Was Mary _actually_ developing feelings for her secret admirer as well?

Oh _dear._

She really was in quite the situation now.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hello! It's Netsunii again. I realized that since the last chapter was quite short and now that my wifi is back, I decided to write more.**_

 _ **Regretfully, I have decided to discontinue Roses of Death in Chapter 4. Quite frankly, I didn't think this whole thing through and now that I finished the journey of Mary through B4, I have no idea how to continue on from this point forward lol ;w;**_

 _ **You can adopt the story, however, and continue it. Apologies for this, but school is starting in a few days and I want to focus on Uncomprehendable.**_

 _ **As you could probably tell, I lost motivation near the end of the chapter and rushed it, sorry.**_

 _ **Oh, and because I was dumb, I forgot to include this important piece of information in the last chapter. I'm far too lazy to update the chapter to add this info though, so here it is, in Chapter Four's author's note:**_

 _ **Mary knows what burlap masks and jumpsuits/jumper suits are and what they look like, thanks to Gray. The reason for this is because he wanted Mary to know what the floor master looked like, so she wouldn't assume that they were an enemy.**_

 _ **Also, since Mary is a painting, I decided that when she bleeds, she bleeds quicker than humans, meaning that she loses blood a lot faster and could die in a matter of minutes. Dark, I know.**_

 _ **Thank you all for the support on this story, i'm actually quite surprised that people like this story ^^;; Anyways, on with the chapter!**_

 _ **Chapter 4**_

Mary sighed as she dropped the note, a faint reddish hue dusting her cheeks. She simply walked forward, stepping onto the indented switch. The switch vibrated beneath her feet, and the door swung open, thankfully inward instead of outward. It wouldn't do her any good to have any broken bones or bruises.

Mary walked into the doorway, looking around. In front of her was a hallway. She sighed and began to walk forward, feeling quite cold. Suddenly, the flashlight began to flicker, the dim light turning on and off.

She froze in place, eyes widening. She looked at the large rectangle at it's side, confused. To her absolute horror, the three bars were no longer filled with green, but two of them were completely empty. The very bottom bar was filled with a red that was steadily depleting. "I-I have to hurry...!" She mumbled, immediately getting back to walking. Her steps were the only sound in the vicinity, besides her breathing and the water droplets.

She stopped walking immediately as the flashlight flickered again. "There it goes again..." The light continued to flicker, as Mary waited for it to stop. And then, she saw it.

In front of her, Mary saw a person. They were about her height, and for some strange reason, their head was either replaced or covered by a burlap mask with a red scarf wrapped around their neck. They wore a white shirt with a jumpsuit, brown gloves and brown boots.

The person tilted their head at her, and Mary could've sworn that the "mouth" on the mask turned into a smile just as she yelped and jumped back, with the light flickering to black. When the light stopped flickering, Mary looked in front of her with shock.

The person (Or perhaps the floor master?) was gone.

She shivered, but pressed on. Occasionally, she would move the flashlight around to ensure that there was no one else around to hurt her or spook her enough to give her a nasty heart attack. Fortunately, she found no one following her with the intent of murdering her. However, the random flickering from the flashlight was enough to keep her on her toes.

Mary soon stood at the end of the hallway, which branched out into a room. She let the dim, dying rays of light from her flashlight hit the closest items in the room, moving the flashlight around to ensure that there was no one there. Once she was sure, Mary prepared to take a step forward.

Her flashlight flickered uncontrollably, and then the light was no more.

Mary's eyes widened as she began to slowly panic. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no—!" She shook the flashlight a few times, hoping, _praying_ that for once, her luck would work in her favor and cause the flashlight to turn back on. Alas, all it did was cause her arm to be tired. Mary growled with frustration and dropped the flashlight, watching it roll away. She was left to ponder why her flashlight was drained of power so quickly,

Her heart stopped for a second as she realized: _she forgot to turn off the flashlight when she ran off to activate the switch in the water._

Mary groaned in frustration, cursing herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She cried out, kicking the ground and grabbing at her hair. Mary bit down on her lip, shaking with anger. She sighed in frustration and stood up straight, attempting to calm herself down. Standing around and cursing herself would do nothing but waste time. Mary opened her mouth to sigh, but froze when she felt a liquid quickly running down her chin.

Oh no. Did she bite down too hard?

Mary ran forward, squinting as her eyes got used to the dark. It was extremely dim, but she could make out a water source at her right, with a bridge on top of it.. She stumbled over to it, panicking as each second ticked by. She fell to the ground, sitting on her legs, digging in her bag for her rose. Her hand brushed against something thin and rough. With no time to waste, Mary tightly gripped the stem of the rose and pulled it out. She watched as the rose petals slowly began to wilt, her head felt lighter, her vision began to darken and black spots were gathering in the corners of her eyes, she could barely lift her arm, she couldn't feel her legs, there was something wet gathering on her dress—

Her upper body fell onto the bridge as her fingers slowly uncurled, her eyes slowly closing. The rose fell from her grasp and into the water.

Mary's eyes snapped open as she gasped, coughing. She looked around for her rose and spotted it, fully intact with it's 6 petals...sinking into the water. Panicking at the thought of losing her rose, Mary jumped into the water with no hesitation. It took her a few moments to adjust to the bitter cold, but she blindly swam around in the water, groping at the air. Her hand grasped around a thin, rough cylinder. Mary gripped the rose stem tightly and began to swim up.

Instead of hitting the air, her head hit a hard surface. Mary realized with a jolt that she was underneath the bridge. Panicking, she swam forward as her lungs screamed for air. She felt herself begin to weaken. _No, no, not yet, please, not yet, I have to-to get out of the water! The-the cold water, it's cold, so cold, so cold, so cold, so cold, so cold, so—_

Mary burst out of the water, coughing as she tried to empty her throat of water. She breathed into the air, sweet, _sweet_ air, before realizing how cold she was. She swam to the bridge, before climbing it, still having a deathly grip onto her rose. Mary collapsed onto the bridge, shivering. Her wet clothes and hair weren't helping her case. Still, she opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She opened her satchel and felt her breath hitch. Lady Luck _finally_ seemed to favor her, as her palette knife was intact and inside the very bag.

Mentally thanking her luck, she stuffed the rose inside of the bag before closing it. She stood up, still shivering. She squeezed her hair, making a bunch of water fall onto the bridge. "O-oops..." She mumbled, before breathing in and out. She smelled...like chemicals? Mary felt her bottom lip, and smiled as her finger ran across a smooth surface. Fully healed. Mary coughed a bit more, before deciding that she was ready to explore again. She took a few shaky steps, and upon realizing that she could walk with no problems, well, walked forward.

Her eye caught the big machine in front of her, and soon she found herself examining it, looking at all of the handles and bits and bobs and arrows and other things she had never seen before. Mary looked at the water temperature. "It's so low...Maybe if I raise the temperature up a bit, the water won't be so cold when I need to go into the water again." She walked over to the temperature controlling device and reached for the bar that would change the temperature.

"Mary, no!"

Mary stumbled back, startled by the voice of a boy that appeared out of nowhere. "H-Huh?!" She stuttered, already reaching for her palette knife. A bright light filled her eyes, causing her to stop reaching for her knife. She shielded her eyes from the light, as she slowly adjusted her vision to it. Once she was done, she looked up and yelped, stumbling backwards.

The burlap mask person was in front of her, holding a lantern. His burlap mask smiled at her.

"Don't act so surprised!" He said, moving forward towards her. Mary froze to the spot, blinking with fear as he approached her. "The one talking to you this whole time is none other than me!" He cheerfully said. Mary slowly inched backwards a few steps. She froze in her spot again as the boy tilted his head and inched towards her again. "There's no need to run! I won't hurt you, promise!" Mary found her voice again and quietly asked. "U-uhm...who...who _are_ you?" He tilted his head as his mask smiled widely at her. "I'm Eddie!" He cheerfully answered. "The master of this floor!"

Mary's eyes widened.

Was this the very person that wrote the notes and the letters?

Oh.

 _Oh._

A red began to dust her cheeks.

"Anyways," Eddie continued. "What are you doing here?" She blinked, and laughed nervously. "Well...Do you want the full version or the short version?" Mary asked. "Full version, please." He requested. She sighed and grabbed her hand, tugging him along with her to the pipes. "You're gonna need to sit down, it's a bit of a long story..." They sat down, leaning against the pipes.

"...And that's how he found me in the woods and took me in, before sending me here for exploration." Mary cheerfully finished. "Wow." Eddie said. "Wait, why were you in the woods?" Immediately, a lump began to form in her throat. "I don't remember." She lied, her thoughts flashing back to them. Suddenly, she yawned. "Oh, I guess that took a lot out of me..." She drowsily said. Eddie chuckled. "No problem, Mary. I guess i'm tired too. We can just sleep here." She made a noise of approval, and soon, she was asleep. Eddie leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He, too, fell asleep.

They leaned against each other, resting after a long day.


End file.
